This weekend, we sang a worship song that centered on the image of God as our shepherd. We've sung it before, but this time I felt it a little more.
The chorus says,
"For the Lord, my Shepherd, leads me,
leads me and he is all I need."
I was a little emotional singing this time because I knew what those words meant for me in that moment. For about a week, I had been sitting with the news that I will have a new appointment this year. As a United Methodist pastor, these moves do not always come when you expect them. This one wasn't on my radar. Still, we offer our lives in service to the church. And we trust our Bishop and Cabinet to prayerfully discern where we are best suited to serve.
Underneath that understanding is a deeper conviction that God is leading us through it all.
And whether you're moving churches or cities, starting something new, or simply trying to be faithful where you are, that is a comforting thought. But it's also one we have to keep learning to live into. We don't just assume we're being led. We practice paying attention to how and where God leads.
Psalm 23 offers familiar, comforting words. Speaking of God the shepherd, the psalmist says, "He leads me beside still waters." That doesn't mean the road there is always smooth or obvious. It isn't always. There are hard turns, unexpected passes, valleys we would not choose for ourselves.
And yet, the promise is not just the destination. The greater promise is that the presence of the Shepherd is there along the way.
Still waters are not always found in still circumstances. Sometimes, they are found in the middle of change, when we finally realize we're not abandoned. The Shepherd does not only lead us forward. God stays close enough that even in uncertainty, we can learn to trust God's voice more than our fear or our apprehension.
Stay blessed...john
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